Back in the ’90s, there was a time when slam was en vogue. The dirty, grimy, gritty death metal that bands like Devourment, Disgorge, or even Gorgasm would hit the tin can snare, gurgle indecipherably, and the riffs would all but rumble as they chugged along. If you yearn for that admittedly simpler time, when brutality was law, Necrambulant are bound to win some favor with you for their second full-length, Upheaval of Malignant Necrambulance (what a very ‘death metal’ mouthful).
Necrambulant hit all of the homages to the slamming brutal death metal genre and do it in the most intense ways possible. From the tin can drum blasts, to the thick and weighty riffs that bulldoze everything in their midtempo path, to the low guttural vocals that border on gurgling, Necrambulant has you covered. Pick whatever song you’d like, because for better or worse (depending on your take on slam), you are going to hear the same type of patterns for each track. The riffs have that knuckledragging groove to them (see “Ineffable Tormenting Possession”) and it’s just enough to keep your ears attentive, to see where they go. Of course, the slams are absolutely devastating when they come, as opener “Amalgamation of Gruesome Crudling” quickly showcases, and the blasts can be exhilarating.
While the similar tone starts to wreck some havoc as you progress further into Upheaval of Malignant Necrambulance, it’s to be expected with this type of pure, slamming death metal sound. That said, Necrambulant do right by the genre and showcase what is the most fun aspects of it, namely the bouncing between frantic blasts to devastating slams all while inhuman gurgles bellow over it, and really does a nice job of capturing the masters of the craft. What it lacks in innovation, it very much makes up for in knowledge of how to approach the songs. While slam is a pretty niche spot in 2025, it’s great to hear some newer bands that still can showcase it for the visceral explosion that it is.